What Transpired in 2005
Get done with Course work - Check
Start work on dissertation - Check
Get a nice sports car - Check
Get cool IPOD - Check
Get cool Motorola Razr Phone - Check
Well, those are the highlights of my 2005.. hehehe..
Note: Workout agadha vishayam ellam mention panna koodadhu.. adhu ellam New Year goals..appadiyum sollikalam..tappe ella..
Monday, December 26, 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Parents/Petror/Amma-appa/Thai-thandhai/Mata-Pita
Amma, School le teacher titinanga..Appadiya chellam, nalaiku nan vandhu kekaren.
Appa, pudhu schooluku pudhu bag venum.Kandipa da kanna. Nalaiku market poi vangi kodukaren.
Amma, math kastama eruku, tuition poganum.Un friends ellam endha tuitionuku poranga? Nalaiku ketu sollu, anga serthu vidaren.
Appa, mechanical vendam, computer science padikanum.Appadiya pa. Nalaiku vandhu college le pesaren. Kavalai padadhe. Eppadiyavadhu pesi mudichudalam.
Amma, night studyku poitu varen.Seri da kanna.. Rombha neram pesindu erukadhenga, seekirama toongunga.
Appa, college lab fees kattanum, panam venum.Evalavu pa venum? Rendu naal kodu ready pannaren.
Appa, mela padikalam nu eruken.Nalladhu pa. Nalla padi. Vera edha pathiyum kavalai padadhe.
Amma, veetula neraya sandai varuthe?Dai, appadi dhan da erukum. Ava chinna ponnu. Namma veetuku vandhu eruka ella, ne dhan poruthu poganum.
Appa, ungaluku edhavadhu venuma? vangi anuparen/tharenEngaluku unga anbhu mattume podhum pa. Enga kadamai ellam mudichutu unga koodave vandhudarom. Vera edhuvum vendam.
I guess, most of us would have come across these typical comments. I was seeing Cheran's "Thavamai Thavamirundhu". I dont have any way to express the portrayal of parents by Raj kiran/Saranya. I felt that as a great tribute for the selfless middle class parents out there. For them the only thing their children can do, is remember their sacrifices, bear with them and cherish them in their old age.
Amma, School le teacher titinanga..Appadiya chellam, nalaiku nan vandhu kekaren.
Appa, pudhu schooluku pudhu bag venum.Kandipa da kanna. Nalaiku market poi vangi kodukaren.
Amma, math kastama eruku, tuition poganum.Un friends ellam endha tuitionuku poranga? Nalaiku ketu sollu, anga serthu vidaren.
Appa, mechanical vendam, computer science padikanum.Appadiya pa. Nalaiku vandhu college le pesaren. Kavalai padadhe. Eppadiyavadhu pesi mudichudalam.
Amma, night studyku poitu varen.Seri da kanna.. Rombha neram pesindu erukadhenga, seekirama toongunga.
Appa, college lab fees kattanum, panam venum.Evalavu pa venum? Rendu naal kodu ready pannaren.
Appa, mela padikalam nu eruken.Nalladhu pa. Nalla padi. Vera edha pathiyum kavalai padadhe.
Amma, veetula neraya sandai varuthe?Dai, appadi dhan da erukum. Ava chinna ponnu. Namma veetuku vandhu eruka ella, ne dhan poruthu poganum.
Appa, ungaluku edhavadhu venuma? vangi anuparen/tharenEngaluku unga anbhu mattume podhum pa. Enga kadamai ellam mudichutu unga koodave vandhudarom. Vera edhuvum vendam.
I guess, most of us would have come across these typical comments. I was seeing Cheran's "Thavamai Thavamirundhu". I dont have any way to express the portrayal of parents by Raj kiran/Saranya. I felt that as a great tribute for the selfless middle class parents out there. For them the only thing their children can do, is remember their sacrifices, bear with them and cherish them in their old age.
Things We Are Asked Not To Do
Not to do things
I am sure that we have been told numerously by our parents, grandparents and all perisus, dont do this, do that and just do like this.But we ask why, they would turn blank. Over the course of years, I have tried to make sense of some of these DONT DO LIKE THIS, JUST DO LIKE THIS (of course some really intelligent people I knew also helped along with). I have put forth a list of my take of these DONT DO's and the reason behind it.
1. Pillayar suzhi: We have been told repeatedly that pillayar suzhi is something realted to pillayar and doing it bestows success in writing that piece. But is that so? What does pillayar suzhi consist of? A small circle, a small curve, a horizontal line and a dot. Now think about it. Before the generation of paper usage, people used papyrus and stylus was used to write on it (actually slowly carve it). So the first thing the writers tested for is the whether the papyrus was worth to be carved i.e. soft enough but not too britle so that it would break. The basic movements in writing were circle, curve, dot and lines. Pillayar suzhi (or the series of movements) helped the writers sample the papyrus.
2. Vibuthi - What does applying vibuthi has to do with religion? Actually zilch, nada, zip. Vibuthi, traditionally would be made of slowly burnt cow dung. Once you Mix it with a little bit of water and applying it over the body, it dries due to our body heat. While drying, the ash hardens up and sucks the water in the pores of the skin. Thus clearing our skin of the black head and the white heads, making the skin glow. But people never would do things when they are told about medicinal properties. So how to make it happen, just say it has got something to do with religion and slap religious sanctitty to do it, people would then do it forever.
3. Dont cut nails in the evening: What does cutting nails got to do with evening? Before electricity age, our households were lit up just either a hurricane light or a agal vilaku (which for obvious reasons dont provide that much of velicham). So if someone cut their nails in the evening time, that too when it is not well lit, there is every possibility of the nails getting mixed up with food.
4. Wearing thali and metti: What does wearing thali and metti got to do with longevity of husband? Crap, married ladies werent even supposed to wear metti, men are supposed to wear it. our elders devised metti and thali as symbols of marriage. We have to remember that men were supposed to walk with their held high and women normally go about their business with a slight amount of shyness (thus looking at the ground). So how can men and women identify whom among the people they met are married and who are all unmarried? For the sake of this, married women were asked to wear thalis and married men wear mettis. Thus men (who walk with their head held high) could see thali in their point of sight and identify that who are married and who are not. The same applies for women too.
5. Parisheshanam (Iyer aathu guys would have heard this): The concept of parisheshanam is to take a spoon of water pour it around the food plate in a circular motion and end it up pouring the rest of water on the side of the plate. Well the build up to it would be parisheshanam mandiram. Again to understand this we need to put ourselves in time machine and go back to pre-electricity days and no dining table. Our forefathers sat on the floor and had their food, where by the way ants and insects thrived. So before our forefathers had their food, by circling the food with water it creates a circle of fire to fend off the insects from the food. The final drops of water would be used to just wash the hands.
Well my quest to decipher the DONT DOs or DO THESE LIKE THIS continues.
Not to do things
I am sure that we have been told numerously by our parents, grandparents and all perisus, dont do this, do that and just do like this.But we ask why, they would turn blank. Over the course of years, I have tried to make sense of some of these DONT DO LIKE THIS, JUST DO LIKE THIS (of course some really intelligent people I knew also helped along with). I have put forth a list of my take of these DONT DO's and the reason behind it.
1. Pillayar suzhi: We have been told repeatedly that pillayar suzhi is something realted to pillayar and doing it bestows success in writing that piece. But is that so? What does pillayar suzhi consist of? A small circle, a small curve, a horizontal line and a dot. Now think about it. Before the generation of paper usage, people used papyrus and stylus was used to write on it (actually slowly carve it). So the first thing the writers tested for is the whether the papyrus was worth to be carved i.e. soft enough but not too britle so that it would break. The basic movements in writing were circle, curve, dot and lines. Pillayar suzhi (or the series of movements) helped the writers sample the papyrus.
2. Vibuthi - What does applying vibuthi has to do with religion? Actually zilch, nada, zip. Vibuthi, traditionally would be made of slowly burnt cow dung. Once you Mix it with a little bit of water and applying it over the body, it dries due to our body heat. While drying, the ash hardens up and sucks the water in the pores of the skin. Thus clearing our skin of the black head and the white heads, making the skin glow. But people never would do things when they are told about medicinal properties. So how to make it happen, just say it has got something to do with religion and slap religious sanctitty to do it, people would then do it forever.
3. Dont cut nails in the evening: What does cutting nails got to do with evening? Before electricity age, our households were lit up just either a hurricane light or a agal vilaku (which for obvious reasons dont provide that much of velicham). So if someone cut their nails in the evening time, that too when it is not well lit, there is every possibility of the nails getting mixed up with food.
4. Wearing thali and metti: What does wearing thali and metti got to do with longevity of husband? Crap, married ladies werent even supposed to wear metti, men are supposed to wear it. our elders devised metti and thali as symbols of marriage. We have to remember that men were supposed to walk with their held high and women normally go about their business with a slight amount of shyness (thus looking at the ground). So how can men and women identify whom among the people they met are married and who are all unmarried? For the sake of this, married women were asked to wear thalis and married men wear mettis. Thus men (who walk with their head held high) could see thali in their point of sight and identify that who are married and who are not. The same applies for women too.
5. Parisheshanam (Iyer aathu guys would have heard this): The concept of parisheshanam is to take a spoon of water pour it around the food plate in a circular motion and end it up pouring the rest of water on the side of the plate. Well the build up to it would be parisheshanam mandiram. Again to understand this we need to put ourselves in time machine and go back to pre-electricity days and no dining table. Our forefathers sat on the floor and had their food, where by the way ants and insects thrived. So before our forefathers had their food, by circling the food with water it creates a circle of fire to fend off the insects from the food. The final drops of water would be used to just wash the hands.
Well my quest to decipher the DONT DOs or DO THESE LIKE THIS continues.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Culture Shock
I am sure that Indian students who have gone abraod for studies have been briefed enough about this topic, and am sure both the students and professionals who have settled abroad have felt this when they returned to India after a long time..well, here are my 2 cents worth of culture shock incidents (limiting myself to India -USA - India)
As soon as you land in USA
- Driving on the right side of the road (obvious)
- Electric Switches (work the other way around)
- Shower curtains have to be put inside the bath tub
- If you are in small cities, every one annoyingly saying Hello, Hi, Wassup, How you doing?
- If you are in big cities, Indians staring at you like you are invading their territory
- People saying thanks, excuse me, bless you every now and then
- A wierd look when a guy puts his arm around another guy
- A wierd look when 2 people stand close to each other
- Concept of returning things to stores within 30 days and get the full money back
- The wierd rule of having J silent in some words like Jalapino and X silent in some words like Mexico
- Utter confusion of replacing Z in words where normally we tend to use S
- Using double negatives in sentences ex. I aint saying nothing
- Getting used to the wierd concept of paying even for incoming calls in Cell phones and night time free minutes
As soon as you return back to India
- Thanking bus conductor for giving you a ticket or a change of 50 paise and getting the wierd look
- Saying Hi for the policeman in the airport and getting a royal stare back
- When travelling in public transport, having the wierd feeling that people are all over you
- Why the heck people in India have to work more than 40 hrs a week, but paid only for 40 hrs?
- Arguing with a maligai kadai kaaran to return a alugina thengai and then fret abt customer service in the States
- Looking for calories on the back of every food article purchased in super market (as if we were born and bought up in that)
Well, the list would go on.. so guys please add on..
I am sure that Indian students who have gone abraod for studies have been briefed enough about this topic, and am sure both the students and professionals who have settled abroad have felt this when they returned to India after a long time..well, here are my 2 cents worth of culture shock incidents (limiting myself to India -USA - India)
As soon as you land in USA
- Driving on the right side of the road (obvious)
- Electric Switches (work the other way around)
- Shower curtains have to be put inside the bath tub
- If you are in small cities, every one annoyingly saying Hello, Hi, Wassup, How you doing?
- If you are in big cities, Indians staring at you like you are invading their territory
- People saying thanks, excuse me, bless you every now and then
- A wierd look when a guy puts his arm around another guy
- A wierd look when 2 people stand close to each other
- Concept of returning things to stores within 30 days and get the full money back
- The wierd rule of having J silent in some words like Jalapino and X silent in some words like Mexico
- Utter confusion of replacing Z in words where normally we tend to use S
- Using double negatives in sentences ex. I aint saying nothing
- Getting used to the wierd concept of paying even for incoming calls in Cell phones and night time free minutes
As soon as you return back to India
- Thanking bus conductor for giving you a ticket or a change of 50 paise and getting the wierd look
- Saying Hi for the policeman in the airport and getting a royal stare back
- When travelling in public transport, having the wierd feeling that people are all over you
- Why the heck people in India have to work more than 40 hrs a week, but paid only for 40 hrs?
- Arguing with a maligai kadai kaaran to return a alugina thengai and then fret abt customer service in the States
- Looking for calories on the back of every food article purchased in super market (as if we were born and bought up in that)
Well, the list would go on.. so guys please add on..
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Black Friday
What a week... First had my Laptop crash due to spyware, then got wickedly burnt by Dell (who asked me to pay for helping me format the system), and then had a marathon shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. When i was doing my Masters, I never cared about shopping on the day after thanksgiving day..But i did jump on to the wagon soon after i started my PhD..may be bcos of boredom on the long holidays or due to the sheer need to see the crowd.. The first year, I cared less to wake up at 4 am. But the last 2 times, I religiously woke up at 4 am and made sure I was in Bestbuy at 4:30 am. If you thought, I stand there wanting to buy every Goddamn thing there, u r mistaken. I, for some reason, like the energy of the crowd there. You see people of all ages, some with coffee in their hands and some still droolling from the last sleep, but all with a kid like look for shopping.. Last time, i ended up picking a bunch of empty CDs and this year I got myself a 120Gig Hard Drive (I have been feeling stupid of not backing up my 4 years of PhD work in school and my prized possession of Mp3s)..After Bestbuy, we (me and my other half) drove to an Outlet mall and just dropped in every shop we can think of..After 4 hrs, we were dead tired and got 4 T-shirts as the momento of the torment..
Well, I thought I would post some neat stuff about the Black friday day. First about the name "Black Friday". Before you think of any sinister stuff, retiailers use this day to move from Loss (red marking) to profit (black) in their balance sheets, thus giving the name Black Friday..Most importantly, black friday is all about retailers gimmick. You would never see a good brand on sale that day. You would get to see brands which are slogging to get off the shelf or brands which want to make a mark in the market. The brands which sell their stuff, with a reduced pricing, also makes money. Most of the consumers would be fooled to be happy with MAIL IN REBATE. Mail in rebate works always in favor of the brand and not us (consumers).. Have you ever thought that what is reason behind someone saying that a product is worth 100$, but after mail in rebate the price would be 40$? Well, first the manufacturing price for that product would be well below 40$. Secondly, it takes 6-8 weeks for the brands to process your mail in rebate and then send you the check. But till the time (you encash the mail-in-rebate check), the money is in the brand's account - an instant cash pool, without paying any interest)..Next comes the tax part. When you get the product, you pay for 100$ and tax for it, and not the tax for 40$. So the city and state also gets a cut on this...Man, as i tell my wife, America always finds ways and means to prove it as a Capitalist society and ways to milk the common man..
The last thing is, the products we think are being sold cheaply would be sold at the same price a week or 1 month down the lane. A bummer...Having said these stuff, who cares?? Its all about having fun and treating yourself/others..
I shall post a picture of the crowd...
What a week... First had my Laptop crash due to spyware, then got wickedly burnt by Dell (who asked me to pay for helping me format the system), and then had a marathon shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. When i was doing my Masters, I never cared about shopping on the day after thanksgiving day..But i did jump on to the wagon soon after i started my PhD..may be bcos of boredom on the long holidays or due to the sheer need to see the crowd.. The first year, I cared less to wake up at 4 am. But the last 2 times, I religiously woke up at 4 am and made sure I was in Bestbuy at 4:30 am. If you thought, I stand there wanting to buy every Goddamn thing there, u r mistaken. I, for some reason, like the energy of the crowd there. You see people of all ages, some with coffee in their hands and some still droolling from the last sleep, but all with a kid like look for shopping.. Last time, i ended up picking a bunch of empty CDs and this year I got myself a 120Gig Hard Drive (I have been feeling stupid of not backing up my 4 years of PhD work in school and my prized possession of Mp3s)..After Bestbuy, we (me and my other half) drove to an Outlet mall and just dropped in every shop we can think of..After 4 hrs, we were dead tired and got 4 T-shirts as the momento of the torment..
Well, I thought I would post some neat stuff about the Black friday day. First about the name "Black Friday". Before you think of any sinister stuff, retiailers use this day to move from Loss (red marking) to profit (black) in their balance sheets, thus giving the name Black Friday..Most importantly, black friday is all about retailers gimmick. You would never see a good brand on sale that day. You would get to see brands which are slogging to get off the shelf or brands which want to make a mark in the market. The brands which sell their stuff, with a reduced pricing, also makes money. Most of the consumers would be fooled to be happy with MAIL IN REBATE. Mail in rebate works always in favor of the brand and not us (consumers).. Have you ever thought that what is reason behind someone saying that a product is worth 100$, but after mail in rebate the price would be 40$? Well, first the manufacturing price for that product would be well below 40$. Secondly, it takes 6-8 weeks for the brands to process your mail in rebate and then send you the check. But till the time (you encash the mail-in-rebate check), the money is in the brand's account - an instant cash pool, without paying any interest)..Next comes the tax part. When you get the product, you pay for 100$ and tax for it, and not the tax for 40$. So the city and state also gets a cut on this...Man, as i tell my wife, America always finds ways and means to prove it as a Capitalist society and ways to milk the common man..
The last thing is, the products we think are being sold cheaply would be sold at the same price a week or 1 month down the lane. A bummer...Having said these stuff, who cares?? Its all about having fun and treating yourself/others..
I shall post a picture of the crowd...
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
One more fan for Ipod
Just got hold of Ipod shuffle...Have heard awesome things about Ipod, but nothin beats a first hand experience.."Just awesome" would summarize my feeling..The first song I heard was the Title song by Rehman from Aa Aaah..It was befitting the glamor of Ipod..Sound clarity is crystal clear and feels like as if listening through Bose headsets..
Just got hold of Ipod shuffle...Have heard awesome things about Ipod, but nothin beats a first hand experience.."Just awesome" would summarize my feeling..The first song I heard was the Title song by Rehman from Aa Aaah..It was befitting the glamor of Ipod..Sound clarity is crystal clear and feels like as if listening through Bose headsets..
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Gods Can Never Be Mortal
Gosh..Sachin, the man who has the power to stop millions of people in India for a moment (the others being the Indian Babus and Bollywood fantasy heroes), just eclipsed from his iconic status to a God status. Ever since his debut under Krish Srikanth in Pakistan 15 years back, Sachin has slowly shown the class batsman he is. He pulled, hooked, swept, drove and danced down the wicket for every bowler in contemporary cricket. Till 2003 he reigned in the status as the most feared batsman in the world. Till then, neither the critics nor the fan once reduced him from a prodigy status. But for the next 2 years he struggled in every single series, giving enough for the the romour mills. Critics said Sachin has lost his touch, started fearing the bowlers and doesnt step up to the plate. It all felt as if "All good things come to an end". Man o man, Sachin proved everyone wrong the last week. He came back from a long hiatus of 6 months and made his comeback look like he has just been playing all along. The drives and hooks, that we thought has disappeared for good from his quiver, resurfaced. The shots were not only used deligently, but also used in a manner which resurfaced the Sachin in late 90's. He showed the world what his class his and what he always was "fearless, shrewd and classy customer". Comebacks are for mortal. For Gods like Sachin, who was were out of form dont need a long comeback road. Did Tiger Woods need a comeback trail last year (2004)? I dont think Sir Don Bradman saw himself in Tendlya during the 1996 world cup, without a reason.
(Picture courtesy: Cricinfo.com)
Friday, September 30, 2005
Creativity and Indian Film Makers
A while back I was browsing through some of the Indian movie websites. In a country with creative directors such as Ray, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mani Ratnam, Jahnu Barua, and to some extent Cheran, K. Balachander; there are also worthless directors who just disrepute the whole concept of moviemaking. To illustrate, take a look at the movies which came out in recent times (I am limiting myself to Hindi and Tamil). Directors seem love to churn movies of the "Masala" genre with the beaten down love stories. No originality in those. But there pops out good movies in between. Movies like Black, Parineeta, and Paheli are top of the house in terms of production value, story and story telling..But are these stories really original...Nope, not even close..Black takes it soul from the story of Jane Eyre, Paheli and Parineeta from old movies..I can atleast give the directors credit for their effort in giving a good story.. But what about directors like Murugadoss in Tamil and Apoorva Lakhia in Hindi.. The former just released his movie by named "Gajini", a story of a millionarie turned killer who has lost his short-term memory and uses tatoos/polaroid pics to keep track.. Tamil movie magazines are full of rave for the director for having a novel story.. Novel story, my foot...for all those naive souls, the movie is totally based on a Hollywood flick called "Momento". The same with Apporva Lakhia, whose new movie by named "Ek Ajnabee" is a total copy of last year's Denziel Washigton hit "Man on Fire"..These guys are just a prick for the Indian movie industry and the reason why they dont come up with any good films or ones with Novel ideas. Till they get rid of these copycats, who cant think, our national film selectors for Oscar nomination wont have much work on their plate..
A while back I was browsing through some of the Indian movie websites. In a country with creative directors such as Ray, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mani Ratnam, Jahnu Barua, and to some extent Cheran, K. Balachander; there are also worthless directors who just disrepute the whole concept of moviemaking. To illustrate, take a look at the movies which came out in recent times (I am limiting myself to Hindi and Tamil). Directors seem love to churn movies of the "Masala" genre with the beaten down love stories. No originality in those. But there pops out good movies in between. Movies like Black, Parineeta, and Paheli are top of the house in terms of production value, story and story telling..But are these stories really original...Nope, not even close..Black takes it soul from the story of Jane Eyre, Paheli and Parineeta from old movies..I can atleast give the directors credit for their effort in giving a good story.. But what about directors like Murugadoss in Tamil and Apoorva Lakhia in Hindi.. The former just released his movie by named "Gajini", a story of a millionarie turned killer who has lost his short-term memory and uses tatoos/polaroid pics to keep track.. Tamil movie magazines are full of rave for the director for having a novel story.. Novel story, my foot...for all those naive souls, the movie is totally based on a Hollywood flick called "Momento". The same with Apporva Lakhia, whose new movie by named "Ek Ajnabee" is a total copy of last year's Denziel Washigton hit "Man on Fire"..These guys are just a prick for the Indian movie industry and the reason why they dont come up with any good films or ones with Novel ideas. Till they get rid of these copycats, who cant think, our national film selectors for Oscar nomination wont have much work on their plate..
Travesty of a Doctoral Student
Doctoral studies... Man o Man, the last 3 years has been a life defining experience for me and it is still not done (I have another 2 more years to go)...When I stepped into the program, my pea sized brain did tell me to perceive Doctoral studies as an exteneded Masters program. I thought all I need to do is get done with 15 courses and do a Thesis, and viola I would a tag in front of my name. As semesters and stats courses progressed, one thing stared at me straight was "my studpidity", that Doctoral studies is a different league game..When i told my advisor in my Masters program that I am going to join a PhD program, he spent hours and hours trying to tell me pitt falls to avoid in a Doctoral program.. I now wish, i should have given much more thought then rather than steaming off in my own fantasy land..One of the first problems I had during my initial PhD days, was the need to confront my self image. I am person who hate to gossip around, dont like to talk about my life with people whom i dont know and most of all a sharp shooter.. Gosh, the first semester for me was a disaster.. I was plastered by all sorts of names.. I was called a Loner, bcos i worked from sun set to sun rise.. I was called most unsociable person, bcos i dont gossip..and most importantly my colleagues started pulling my personal life for anything and everything they wanted to talk abt me.. I also had to fight with the ghost of being brought up in a British format schooling system, where Profs were thought as Guru's, with a respect and with a decorum of what should be spoken with them and what shouldnt be...It all ended up one final day, when a kind hearted Prof came up to me and told me what was happening at the back of me..It took a couple of weeks to strategize my attack plan... First thing, i did was try to rekindle the conversation I had with my ex-advisor and follow what he asked me to do, i.e. never step in the politics in the department but always make none steps on you..I took a couple of more weeks to get a name for me in the classes, then started taking care of my colleagues..Man, when I was in India, I thought Westerners were all well mannered. But i was wrong, human mind never changes irrespective of whether he is from Aminjikarai or Atlanta..Instead of changing my belief about how to get work done, just because other people dont like me, I made sure that the way I do is viewed as a cult and taking pride in doing it. Over the last 2 years, I just didnt give a chance for people to speak about me..Still I am considered as unsocial by those poor souls, who cant understand that I believe not going on debt by eating out everyday and also want to keep a healthy life..To top it off, getting any thing done in my department, no matter it is about getting funded for a conference or decide on research topic for a project, you have to take care of a multi-functional regression. Earlier, when i used to see my friends working their ass off in the industry, i used to think that I am missing people managenebt skills which my friends are getting every day. Now, i know that I am getting even more than what my friends are getting..I no more complain about it...
Being a Doctoral student has surely showed me what little in the world and in our life, that we can control.. and the best way to take care of life is fret about things you can control and take "ONE DAY AT A TIME"..
Doctoral studies... Man o Man, the last 3 years has been a life defining experience for me and it is still not done (I have another 2 more years to go)...When I stepped into the program, my pea sized brain did tell me to perceive Doctoral studies as an exteneded Masters program. I thought all I need to do is get done with 15 courses and do a Thesis, and viola I would a tag in front of my name. As semesters and stats courses progressed, one thing stared at me straight was "my studpidity", that Doctoral studies is a different league game..When i told my advisor in my Masters program that I am going to join a PhD program, he spent hours and hours trying to tell me pitt falls to avoid in a Doctoral program.. I now wish, i should have given much more thought then rather than steaming off in my own fantasy land..One of the first problems I had during my initial PhD days, was the need to confront my self image. I am person who hate to gossip around, dont like to talk about my life with people whom i dont know and most of all a sharp shooter.. Gosh, the first semester for me was a disaster.. I was plastered by all sorts of names.. I was called a Loner, bcos i worked from sun set to sun rise.. I was called most unsociable person, bcos i dont gossip..and most importantly my colleagues started pulling my personal life for anything and everything they wanted to talk abt me.. I also had to fight with the ghost of being brought up in a British format schooling system, where Profs were thought as Guru's, with a respect and with a decorum of what should be spoken with them and what shouldnt be...It all ended up one final day, when a kind hearted Prof came up to me and told me what was happening at the back of me..It took a couple of weeks to strategize my attack plan... First thing, i did was try to rekindle the conversation I had with my ex-advisor and follow what he asked me to do, i.e. never step in the politics in the department but always make none steps on you..I took a couple of more weeks to get a name for me in the classes, then started taking care of my colleagues..Man, when I was in India, I thought Westerners were all well mannered. But i was wrong, human mind never changes irrespective of whether he is from Aminjikarai or Atlanta..Instead of changing my belief about how to get work done, just because other people dont like me, I made sure that the way I do is viewed as a cult and taking pride in doing it. Over the last 2 years, I just didnt give a chance for people to speak about me..Still I am considered as unsocial by those poor souls, who cant understand that I believe not going on debt by eating out everyday and also want to keep a healthy life..To top it off, getting any thing done in my department, no matter it is about getting funded for a conference or decide on research topic for a project, you have to take care of a multi-functional regression. Earlier, when i used to see my friends working their ass off in the industry, i used to think that I am missing people managenebt skills which my friends are getting every day. Now, i know that I am getting even more than what my friends are getting..I no more complain about it...
Being a Doctoral student has surely showed me what little in the world and in our life, that we can control.. and the best way to take care of life is fret about things you can control and take "ONE DAY AT A TIME"..
Saturday, August 06, 2005
EGO
Ego. What the heck is that? We tend to see that in our daily life. Most of us have daily confrontations with Ego, in terms of our own self ego, ego of our bosses, ego of managers, ego of restaurant waiter, ego of our professors and so on.
Thesaurus lists the following definitions for Ego:
Ego. What the heck is that? We tend to see that in our daily life. Most of us have daily confrontations with Ego, in terms of our own self ego, ego of our bosses, ego of managers, ego of restaurant waiter, ego of our professors and so on.
Thesaurus lists the following definitions for Ego:
- "The self, especially, as distinct from the world and the other selves"
- "An exagerrated sense of self importance".
- "Appropriate pride in oneself, self-esteem".
On a philosophical note, Sri Ramakrishna comments on Ego as "You cannot conceive, think of perceive God, otherwise than as a person, so long as you are a person with Ego of your own". In the same vein, Sai Baba define Ego as "Edging God Out".
All the above definitions underline "Self", which keeps popping up as self importance and self esteem. According to anthropology and sociology research Ego plays a very important role in defining who we are. Ego identifies the central character of every human being; what he relates himself to, what he thinks he knows best, what he thinks he can do best and so on. But it is Ego which acts as one of the major resource wrecking havoc in the society. See around yourself and think of the last time you had a problem with your boss, your mom/dad, your neighbor, your teacher, the restaurant waiter who suggested something for you etc. Everytime somebody passes a comment on you, it is your Ego which gets directly punctured. The comment spears into the authority on which you are built upon and which you have advertised to others. Once the initial blow has been inflicted upon your Ego, our brain would kick in the survival training part, which has been pre-programmed as a by product of our evolution process. We go into a defensive mode, trying to confront the person who has ridiculed the basic identity of who we are. Thus, forcing us to retailiate and starting a tirade of passing comment on the opposite person. After that the problem takes the road deep south.
How can be tackle our Ego? Well, we need Ego but we should also control it. We need to defend our Ego if we know that it is correct ethically, morally and factually. Well, as a starting point thats what our parents and books we read in our childhood has taught us. In Sangam Tamil literature, there is a quote that Pulavar Nakeerar didnt budge from his stand that Lord Shiva was had factual mistake in his poem and stood by it. He seem to have passed on a comment on Shiva saying "NetriKan thirapinum Kutram Kutrame", hearing which Lord Shiva burnt him. Lord Shiva then resurrected Nakeeran and appreciated him for being strong even in front of the Lord. But does that work in our practical life?
For the last 6 months I had an interesting experience of playing with my Prof's Super Ego. For a stupid reason (of the department not designing the course correctly), I had to re-take a course (under a new prof), even after me getting an A during the first time. The new Prof came from a different background, had different understanding of research methods used in my field (Information Systems) and most of all had no idea of what my field is about. Here I am in the class, where 4 students are from IS and one from management. Even before the course had begun, the prof had been strongly instructed by the IS department on what to teach and what not to teach. Before going any further, I should also let you guys know that we are talking about a full Prof and whose terrible stint as a teacher was well known to all the departments. Still, she was asked to teach to students. Why? people in the IS dept thought it was not their duty to teach that course. Other smart departments like Finance and Accounting instructed their students not to even think of taking that course. Anyways, the course was supposed to teach the students an overview of Quantitative and Qualitative methodology. In the first class, the prof comes with a syllabus which has 95% of classes devoted to Quantiative methodology and 5% to qualitative methodology. And here I am, who have taken mutiple classes on the subject and wanted to learn qualitative more. Anyways, I tried to keep quiet in the class, hoping she would teach qualitative methodology. She never completes any of the material and through the whole semester is stuck up with Surveys. Then comes up with the term paper. When 4 others in the class chose a quantitative paper, i chose a qualitative approach with a noble cause of learning it from the semester. I seldom realized that the prof neither knew it or was ready to accept she didnt know. Comes the end of semester, I am given a C. The reason, I didnt understand the methdology. Who comments on it? A prof who expected Stats in qualitative paper, expected hypotheses in Exploratory study? But who to question her. Having bought up with values, and to stand up to it; I was caught up inbetween throwing my values out of the window or stick by it, keep a C and retake the class. My fellow colleagues did ask me to do the unthinkable "Kneel down and suck it up...". I just kept on collecting reseach to prove that I am right and she was wrong; proved it and finally got a B. Well, what was my fault in this whole process? Stuck with the truth or challenging a Professor that she was wrong and deliberately screwing my grade? When I tell this to my advisor, he said "Welcome to real world" and learn to live up to it. Gosh, if thats the case why did my mom teach me Bharathiyar's "Nimirdha nanadai, Ner konda parvai, Nilathil yarkum anchadha nerigalum"? May be this is what I should expect, if i had to stick up to truth, i.e. path full of challenges. Huh ! I again remember Bharathiar's song for this "Nallothor veenai seyvom. Adhai nalam keda puludhiyil erindhu vetom. Solladi Sivasakthi, endha sudar migum arivudan ennai padaithai"...Thursday, July 28, 2005
Off it goes.......
(Courtesy: NASA)
Well.. Well.. Well..NASA after a looooong and costly investigation of the failed Columbia mission, successfully launched Space Shuttle Discovery and it has also successfully docked with the International Space Station. For the past two days, it has been fun to watch NASA Live TV where the action is shown live right from the chatter talk between the Shuttle crew members and Ground Control, and some knowledgable commentary by NASA PR people. It is literally awesome to see earth from the perimter of the Space Shuttle. Good job NASA for the great images..
Well, after all the ravings lets start the ranting. The mission is not without its grey area. In contrast to NASA's overconfidence on the external fuel tank's insulation, a chunk of insulation did fall off. This has severly dented NASA's confidence with the safety of the tank and so the safety of the Shuttle crew, thus ground the future (foreseeable) missions to a screeching halt. It is highly surprising that even after NASA knew that it wont be able to completly correct foam shaving problem from the external fuel tank, all it did was to just patch up the faults in the foam coating design and not totally re-design the entire fuel tank. Its easy to say that it all boils down to dollars, as the tank is reused and it is cheap to just refine what we have than redo from scratch. But if NASA doesnt fix the foam problem, it is highly unlikely that the Shuttle program would continuue or would be used to its fullest extent before retiring it in 2010.
Coming to the next point, has the Shuttle program lived upto its expectation in the last 25 years. If one compares the overhyped Shuttle with clanky Russian Soyuz, it would be crystal clear that Soyuz has a better safety record and much cheap mode of transport between earth and space station. If that is the case, why NASA still sticks with its risky Shuttle design? First EGO, that Americans always design a better product.. Its bullshit.. Even a first year Mechanical Engineering student would say that during renentry path the lesser the amount of space area exposed to heat, the better chance of shielding from it and returning to earth safely. Soyuz fits as a glove to do the job of shuttling the astronauts and supplies back and forth and safely bring them back home.. It is clunky, small but due to its compact nature has less area to be shielded from renentry burning. While, the US shuttle are beautiful to see and has large space, but it is one of the most complex thing ever built by human being and most flimsiest. Most people dont know that the tiles used in space shuttle are so flimsy that it cant even land back on earth when it is drizzling.
The ISS program is being boasted as a joint collabration program involving a dozen countries. For the success of the program and for the advancement of science, let hope that NASA put some logical thinking and be rational in whatever it does.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Statesmen in India - Do they need a quick visit to an eye Doctor?
Well. I should first thank my friend Sowmya for instigating to start blogging again and it was also great to read her painstakingly written blog on Saivaite saints. Bravo !!
As I was thinking about a topic to blog on, two prominent things came on to my mind. The first one on issues about occupation and profession. I am saving on to that for now, as I think I still have to read some more papers to have a indepth understanding of the concept. The second one that flashed across is about China and India.
In the last 1 year every news paper, journal article or magazine article seems to be incomplete without allotting a single column on the topic of India vs China. For example, in the latest Forbes magazine article on Oil prices projects India and China to be the reason behind the increase in Oil Prices. "The bullish case for oil stems from a growing world economy - you know, china and India - that will ensure increasing demand and stock propelling earningss". It seems true on the base level to say that both India and China have been growing tremendously. For true, they have been growing at 7-8% for the last decade. But the issue which most of us seem to forget that it is an unreasonable comparison being made between them. Even though, the growth rate is comparable, are we talking about comparable economies. No we arent. Take for instance, China has forex reserves to the amount of 750 Billion US dollars and India just 110 Billion US dollars. In order to have a 8% growth like China, India has to grow at a rate of 20% per annum , which is impossible and unthinkable. But how come 2 countries which were comparable in 60's have become totally incomparable in the span of 40 years. I would say the majority of burden lies on the lack of visionaries in India. Unlike China, whose premier has the foresight to see his country in long term, India has been plagued by more of short term rusted politicians than visionaries. Even though India greatly benefitted from visionaries like MS. Swaminathan and Vallabhai Patel in 50's and 60's; it came to a screeching halt then. We lost steam and locked ourself in cucoon for the next 40 years. It had to take a luminary like Manmohan to kick start in 1991 and a global disaster like dot com bust to take the Manmohan initiative to the next level. But if we think that India is in a perfect position to take on China now, I would suggest you to think 20,000 times before it. Right now everyone in India thinks India is doing great because of the BPO boom and all. But the ITES sector just contributes in single digit percentage to Indian GDP. Whereas Chinas GDP is fuelled by wide rage of sectors right from IT, ITES, manufacturing and all. On the onset of the 21st century I think the Indian think tanks have realized the old adage "Dont book all your eggs in a single basket". It is visible from the heavy dis-investment work going on in India and the opening up of markets right from Aviation to retail sector. But does it suffice to just open the sector. Once, again the lack of foresighted visionaries handicaps India here. Whats the use of have aviation pact with countries and having mushrooming low-budget carriers without having proper infrastructure. I think all Bangloreans would endorse to the state of Bangalore International Airport. It still is in the drawing board 2 years after being awarded the contract. It is shame to know that the Airport Authority of India is just now thinking of having an automatic baggage handling facility for 10 top airports. What about other airports in India like Trichy or Madurai or Pune? It would be worthwhile to look at developed nations and how they did it. USA invested lots of money in airport and roads in the 50's and 60's parallely when it the respective sector booming and things were done at rapid pace. In India, the word rapid sticks only with the paper and doesnt go anywhere.
The other glaring example for the lack of foresightedness of Indian leaders is WTO-Cloth export cap. When the developed nations took the cap off in Jan 2005, do you know who benefitted the most? Bingo China. Just for numbers sake, look at this. Their increase in export to USA (in any segment of clothing - underwear, swimsuit, sweaters) rose to 200-400%. This happened within the first quarter of 2005. In the same time, exports from other countries like India rose in very modest numbers. Why this dispartity? Do you think that dumping of clothing from China happened overnight? We all would remember the late Murasoli Maran and his acts in WTO 2002, when he inked the export cap pact. All the nations had approximately 3 years for the D-Day i.e., Jan 2005. But who won? Only China, who used the time wisely to improve the infrastructure and create redundant manufacturing, yarns, shipping facilities and just switched it ON in Jan 2005. Whereas, in India, it seems we started taking note of the banishment of export cap only from Jan 2005 and started building the infrastructure. I was totally apalled by a news article in Hindu (dated 21st July 2005), which quoted an industrialist in Tirupur (manchester of India) being happy about the bank approving his 1 crore loan to buy a new spinning machine in addition to the new one he bought a couple of months back.
Well, the two examples I quoted are a drop in an ocean. What we need in India is someone who can think in the long term and who can lead India without red tape.
Chal..... thats it for today..shall rejoin in the next edition with my thought on Youth in India.
Well. I should first thank my friend Sowmya for instigating to start blogging again and it was also great to read her painstakingly written blog on Saivaite saints. Bravo !!
As I was thinking about a topic to blog on, two prominent things came on to my mind. The first one on issues about occupation and profession. I am saving on to that for now, as I think I still have to read some more papers to have a indepth understanding of the concept. The second one that flashed across is about China and India.
In the last 1 year every news paper, journal article or magazine article seems to be incomplete without allotting a single column on the topic of India vs China. For example, in the latest Forbes magazine article on Oil prices projects India and China to be the reason behind the increase in Oil Prices. "The bullish case for oil stems from a growing world economy - you know, china and India - that will ensure increasing demand and stock propelling earningss". It seems true on the base level to say that both India and China have been growing tremendously. For true, they have been growing at 7-8% for the last decade. But the issue which most of us seem to forget that it is an unreasonable comparison being made between them. Even though, the growth rate is comparable, are we talking about comparable economies. No we arent. Take for instance, China has forex reserves to the amount of 750 Billion US dollars and India just 110 Billion US dollars. In order to have a 8% growth like China, India has to grow at a rate of 20% per annum , which is impossible and unthinkable. But how come 2 countries which were comparable in 60's have become totally incomparable in the span of 40 years. I would say the majority of burden lies on the lack of visionaries in India. Unlike China, whose premier has the foresight to see his country in long term, India has been plagued by more of short term rusted politicians than visionaries. Even though India greatly benefitted from visionaries like MS. Swaminathan and Vallabhai Patel in 50's and 60's; it came to a screeching halt then. We lost steam and locked ourself in cucoon for the next 40 years. It had to take a luminary like Manmohan to kick start in 1991 and a global disaster like dot com bust to take the Manmohan initiative to the next level. But if we think that India is in a perfect position to take on China now, I would suggest you to think 20,000 times before it. Right now everyone in India thinks India is doing great because of the BPO boom and all. But the ITES sector just contributes in single digit percentage to Indian GDP. Whereas Chinas GDP is fuelled by wide rage of sectors right from IT, ITES, manufacturing and all. On the onset of the 21st century I think the Indian think tanks have realized the old adage "Dont book all your eggs in a single basket". It is visible from the heavy dis-investment work going on in India and the opening up of markets right from Aviation to retail sector. But does it suffice to just open the sector. Once, again the lack of foresighted visionaries handicaps India here. Whats the use of have aviation pact with countries and having mushrooming low-budget carriers without having proper infrastructure. I think all Bangloreans would endorse to the state of Bangalore International Airport. It still is in the drawing board 2 years after being awarded the contract. It is shame to know that the Airport Authority of India is just now thinking of having an automatic baggage handling facility for 10 top airports. What about other airports in India like Trichy or Madurai or Pune? It would be worthwhile to look at developed nations and how they did it. USA invested lots of money in airport and roads in the 50's and 60's parallely when it the respective sector booming and things were done at rapid pace. In India, the word rapid sticks only with the paper and doesnt go anywhere.
The other glaring example for the lack of foresightedness of Indian leaders is WTO-Cloth export cap. When the developed nations took the cap off in Jan 2005, do you know who benefitted the most? Bingo China. Just for numbers sake, look at this. Their increase in export to USA (in any segment of clothing - underwear, swimsuit, sweaters) rose to 200-400%. This happened within the first quarter of 2005. In the same time, exports from other countries like India rose in very modest numbers. Why this dispartity? Do you think that dumping of clothing from China happened overnight? We all would remember the late Murasoli Maran and his acts in WTO 2002, when he inked the export cap pact. All the nations had approximately 3 years for the D-Day i.e., Jan 2005. But who won? Only China, who used the time wisely to improve the infrastructure and create redundant manufacturing, yarns, shipping facilities and just switched it ON in Jan 2005. Whereas, in India, it seems we started taking note of the banishment of export cap only from Jan 2005 and started building the infrastructure. I was totally apalled by a news article in Hindu (dated 21st July 2005), which quoted an industrialist in Tirupur (manchester of India) being happy about the bank approving his 1 crore loan to buy a new spinning machine in addition to the new one he bought a couple of months back.
Well, the two examples I quoted are a drop in an ocean. What we need in India is someone who can think in the long term and who can lead India without red tape.
Chal..... thats it for today..shall rejoin in the next edition with my thought on Youth in India.
Monday, May 09, 2005
Here you go people. I am back again with a bang (after a l0oooooo0000ooooong lull of 1 year)...
Hope you guys have listened to Anniyan songs by Harris Jayaraj.. Here is my take on the songs..
1. Iyengaru veettu -- Starts with a great opening of classic keerthana "Jagatha nandha...", changes the beat and still sticks with the raaga(but have to bear with the lyrics.. ouch.. awful to the extent)...The song also has the right mix of classical instruments like mridangam, gatam with keyboard..
2. Kadhan Yanai ---- Crap song and has lots of uncanny resemlence with one of the 12 B song
3. Andan Kakka --- A classic Shankar song.. I can see Shankar more in this song that that of Harris Jayaraj.. I am sure that this Song would be of the Genre like that of "Uppu Karuvadu" of Mudhalavan fame
4. Stranger in black --- Another song which sounds more like one of Harris's previous hit "thoodhu varuma" in Kaaka Kaaka..
5. Kannum Kannum - I still dont get the reason why Harris relies on his 12 B chord than anything. Hear for "Oooooh".. It gets on my nerves to hear that repeatedly without thinking of "Seriya Thavara" in 12B.
6. Kumari - A great rendition by Shankar Mahadevan and overall a good song too.. For a change in the whole album (other than Iyengaru veetu), Harris has thought to mix carnatic strings (look out of Mandolin note) along with Keyboard...but alas to the middle of the song (after the first stanza), Harris uses the Sax note from "Mutham Mutham" from 12B...
I totally wish Shankar should have stuck with ARR than his student...Harris has a long way to go...He totally lacks in confidence and relies on digitally mixing his already hit notes...
Hope you guys have listened to Anniyan songs by Harris Jayaraj.. Here is my take on the songs..
1. Iyengaru veettu -- Starts with a great opening of classic keerthana "Jagatha nandha...", changes the beat and still sticks with the raaga(but have to bear with the lyrics.. ouch.. awful to the extent)...The song also has the right mix of classical instruments like mridangam, gatam with keyboard..
2. Kadhan Yanai ---- Crap song and has lots of uncanny resemlence with one of the 12 B song
3. Andan Kakka --- A classic Shankar song.. I can see Shankar more in this song that that of Harris Jayaraj.. I am sure that this Song would be of the Genre like that of "Uppu Karuvadu" of Mudhalavan fame
4. Stranger in black --- Another song which sounds more like one of Harris's previous hit "thoodhu varuma" in Kaaka Kaaka..
5. Kannum Kannum - I still dont get the reason why Harris relies on his 12 B chord than anything. Hear for "Oooooh".. It gets on my nerves to hear that repeatedly without thinking of "Seriya Thavara" in 12B.
6. Kumari - A great rendition by Shankar Mahadevan and overall a good song too.. For a change in the whole album (other than Iyengaru veetu), Harris has thought to mix carnatic strings (look out of Mandolin note) along with Keyboard...but alas to the middle of the song (after the first stanza), Harris uses the Sax note from "Mutham Mutham" from 12B...
I totally wish Shankar should have stuck with ARR than his student...Harris has a long way to go...He totally lacks in confidence and relies on digitally mixing his already hit notes...
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